Write Articles, Get Noticed

If you have a website, you need to get visitors to that website. Writing articles is one of the best ways to get that traffic.

Many people believe that they can't write. My feeling is, if you can talk - you can write. It may help you to list the major points that you are trying to make. Think about the subject you want to write about. Is there a product or an affiliate program that you want to showcase?

Once you know the topic and the points you want to make, create a simple outline. Then, all you have to do is elaborate on each point. Before you know it, you have your article written!

When your article is finished, create a "killer" resource box that introduces you, your website and your product (or your affiliate product). This is the place to brag about yourself and how good your product is! The content of the resource box will usually look like it has been written by a person other than the author of the article. I'm sure that most people understand that it was written by the author, but it doesn't look as much like your "tooting your own horn." :) A resource box should not be longer than four or five lines including the site URL.

You may think that a few articles won't make much difference to your promotion efforts, but look at the ways they could bring traffic:

1. Submission of your articles to article announcement lists and article directories will create outside "links" to your website. The resource box at the end of your article will be the place to put that link. If you're an affiliate marketer, it's better to have the link refer to a page on your own website that relates to the affiliate product rather than directly to the affiliate program's website. That way, you get the traffic first - not them. It's also a good idea to have a form for your newsletter that will capture their name and email address so you can build your optin list.

2. Send your articles to newsletter publishers. Most publishers either keep an archive of their past newsletters or will add your article to their own article directory.

Do a search in newsletter directories and email the publisher to request permission to send him or her your articles. Keep these publishers in a special list that you can send to whenever you write an article. Ask the publishers how often they would prefer you send your articles to them. Otherwise, they may feel you are bombing them :)

3. Using your articles on your own site, as useful content, will give the search engines something to feed on. Be sure that you have the appropriate meta tag keywords on the page for each article you write. Then, submit that page to search engines.

After you have accumulated a number of your own articles, and have added them to your site, you will have a good start to an article directory where your visitors can come to read articles on a particular subject that that they are interested in.

Invite other authors to post their articles to your article directory. This will not only help bring traffic to their site, but also to yours, by having a resource readily available to your website visitors. Keep their resource box just as they wrote it (unless they have given you permission to add your own affiliate link). Also make sure that their link is "live" - that is clickable to their website. If your site visitors know there will be new articles posted on their subject of interest often, they will come back again - and again.

Writing articles may sometimes seem like a chore. But it is a necessary one to your online success. So, ready, set, start writing!